A ‘mbade’ (cigar/blunt)made by the Wahehe People from Tanzania 1922
The Worlds First Blunts… Mbade
Long before New York crews started cracking Phillies, one tribe in Tanzania had already mastered the art of rolling the perfect blunt.
The practice of rolling up a blunt may originate much earlier then anyone could have thought from a small group of people living in Tanzania called the Wahehe people. These first primitive blunts were made using the leaves of the “mlama” tree to wrap up a mixture of tobacco and bhang (cannabis) tied tightly together with ‘kamba’ and tobacco strips. Blunts go by many names but the Wahehe called these first blunts ‘Mbade’.
The art of rolling these ancient blunts may have been lost to history if not for A. G. O. Hodgson’s article ‘Some Notes on the Wahehe of Mahenge District, Tanganyika Territory’ published in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Vol. 56 in 1926. In this article Hodgson describes the Wahehe’s mbade,
“Before pipes came into use the Wahehe smoked a form of cigar called mbade consisting of tobacco or tobacco mixed with “bhang” (lilambo – the kind which seeds [cannabis]) inside a vibadilo (ku-badila = to wrap) of leaves of the mlama, a fairly large tree. No other leaves were used. Tied with any kind of kamba. Leaves as well as tobacco”
Not only does Hodgson describe this early blunt technique he managed to collect and save at least two of these Mbade’s, one untouched and one that has been sparked, both now reside in the British Museum.
The next time your enjoying puffing on that El there’s no need to thank Brooklyn or the Bronx, the Wahehe may have been the first to puff those trees, mbade!
A Wahehe People’s ‘mbade’ (cigar/blunt) from 1922
Hehe warriors from Iringa, Tanzania 1906